Ukraine Says Drone-and-Robot Offensive Retook 176 Square Kilometers Near Lyman

Ukraine used airborne drones to deliver remote-controlled ground robots behind Russian lines around Lyman, attacking troops from the rear while limiting its own soldiers’ exposure, defense expert Patrick Bolder told CNBC. The account, published October 4, describes the mechanics of Operation Vivaldi, an offensive that Ukrainian Brigadier-General Andrii Biletskyi says has retaken 176 square kilometers.

The ongoing operation began in May and involves Ukraine’s Third Army Corps in the northern Donetsk region. Its target area sits near cities forming Ukraine’s remaining defensive belt in the region, which Russian forces have spent the past year trying to encircle.

Air control opened a route for ground robots

Bolder, a strategic adviser at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies, described several pieces working together. Ukrainian forces kept operational details secret, ran disinformation campaigns against Russia and conducted a months-long air operation to disrupt supplies reaching the front.

They also secured control of the air around Lyman, denying Russia the use of its drones, Bolder said. Ukrainian drones then dropped unmanned ground vehicles—robots operated remotely without personnel aboard—behind Russian positions. Those platforms attacked from the rear without putting Ukrainian personnel there, in his account.

Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Kyiv-based Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, described the change as more than substituting machines for individual soldiers. He told CNBC that remotely controlled platforms increasingly perform work that previously required dozens or hundreds of personnel, reducing their exposure and enabling missions with minimal personnel losses.

Their use has not only reduced the risks to personnel but has also changed the very logic of combat: where previously dozens or hundreds of soldiers were required, remotely controlled platforms are increasingly being deployed.

Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, in an email to CNBC

Claimed gains, not a decisive breakthrough

On September 28, Biletskyi said Vivaldi’s third phase had retaken another 51 square kilometers, bringing the total to 176. He also claimed more than 2,000 Russian losses and more than 250 soldiers taken prisoner in that phase. These are Ukrainian military claims; CNBC attributed the figures to Biletskyi.

Security experts cautioned that the offensive was not a decisive breakthrough. Bolder nevertheless argued that it had moved Ukrainian troops into more defensible positions, making another Russian attempt to seize the area harder. A spokesperson for Russia’s Embassy in London was unavailable for comment when CNBC contacted it.

The operation also features in Ukraine’s stated plans for wider robot use. In a September 30 social media post, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the Third Army Corps and said ground robotic systems had helped accomplish tasks during Vivaldi. He pledged to scale up their use so drones, rather than soldiers, would increasingly perform the most dangerous frontline work.